[Grammar] Singular vs Plural

[monaka]

Hello, I want to ask about the usage of "Singular vs Plural" issue on the following sentence, which was once corrected by an English native speaker.



Before the correction ):
Jack is keeping a record of dinner pictures. He marked some evaluation of its satisfaction as a meal.

After the correction ):
Jack is keeping a record of dinner pictures. He marked some evaluation of THEIR satisfaction as a meal.

The point I want to be sure is
#1 whether I don't neet to change the latter part of 2nd sentence like this:
He marked some evaluation of THEIR satisfaction as MEALS.

I was writing the 2 sentences from a view of focusing on each meal. Therefore I used "its" + "as a meal".
However, the corrector told me that since I was talking about pictures so "its" should be "their".
Ok, I understand this one, but then, is it Ok to leave the "as a meal" part as singular?

Isn't it similar issue like saying:

The guys who hit their wives should be imprisoned. (sorry, for the example.)
A guy who hit his wife should be imprisoned.

This is really tough to explain in English but is there anyone who can see my point?
Any suggestion of saying like, "Look up at ***** chapter in ******* grammar book for this or that will help me a lot too!!

Thank you.



​

 

[Vaedoris]

I am just a student and not a native speaker; but this intrigues me and I want to share my thoughts.

#1

I think the object here is the record. So, "it" seems to refer to the pictures collectively.

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but the phrase "a record of dinner pictures" does not seem to necessarily imply various meals. It may also imply pictures of foods served at one dinner.

#2

If the meaning of the noun phrase is taken to be the latter, I think the possessive pronoun "their" refers to the "plates of foods" served at the dinner; and the phrase "some evaluation of their satisfaction", therefore means the evaluation that Jack gave to those foods collectively.


P.S. Help me correct my use of the noun "foods" here. It is also a kind of "singular or plural" problems. :lol:

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forums, monaka.:hi:

He marked some evaluation of THEIR satisfaction as a meal.:cross:

He marked some evaluation of THEIR satisfaction as MEALS.:tick:

. . . the corrector told me that since I was talking about pictures so "its" should be "their". I agree with your corrector.

I was writing the 2 sentences from a view of focusing on each meal. Therefore I used "its" + "as a meal". You could say 'He evaluated each dish in terms of its satisfaction as a meal'.

Isn't it similar to saying:

The guys who hit their wives should be imprisoned.
A guy who hit his wife should be imprisoned. No—that's a much simpler construction.


​

Rover​

 

[monaka]

Thank you, Rover.
It's all fine now:-D

 

[monaka]

Hello, Vaedoris,

Thanks for your reply.
I hope we are both able to improve English;-)